Dear Reader,Welcome to Nutrition & Healing's Health eTips e-letter. Congratulations -- you've taken your first step into uncovering the nutritional cures that "mainstream" medicine tries so hard to keep from you.You picked a great day to start -- I'm going to tell you how someday soon the threat of type 2 diabetes could be wiped out for millions of people. In fact, some type 2 diabetics may NEVER need drugs again.It's true. Dr. Wright has shown us how to overcome and prevent it, with nothing more costly than table cinnamon. I'm not talking about some exotic variety, but the stuff that's already in your cupboard! Up until recently, type 2 diabetics thought they had no choice but to pay through the nose for dangerous drugs, including metformin (Glucophage®). Side effects from this stuff include extreme weakness, muscle pain, trouble breathing and even heart arrhythmia. But now, Dr. Wright's patients have learned... success can be as simple as saying "sugar and spice!" How? It turns out that cinnamon contains a very powerful nutrient called methylhydroxychalcone polymer -- MHCP for short. A few years ago, a research team led by Dr. Richard Anderson isolated a part of cinnamon (MHCP) that closely mimics insulin activity. The researchers observed that a combination of MHCP and insulin worked synergistically in regulating glucose metabolism.

The researchers concluded that although there were differences between the responses MHCP and insulin can have on regulating sugar metabolism, the benefit of combining the two therapies is clear. They also noted that MHCP does mimic insulin and that, in most instances, MHCP can work alone -- without the presence of insulin. Keep reading...

Cinnamon may eliminate the need for drugs in patients with type 2 diabetesAccording to Dr. Wright, cinnamon/MHCP might not only help control blood sugar but also, when combined with appropriate diet, exercise, and other supplementation, make patent medications and their myriad adverse effects (including significantly increased cardiovascular mortality and occasional deaths from other causes) totally unnecessary.Individuals with type 2 diabetes who aren't using patent medications should also consider this addition to their diet, exercise, and supplement plan. If you have a mild case of diabetes, it's quite possible that your blood sugar level will normalize simply by using cinnamon or MHCP. At the very least, it should improve. And in either circumstance, using cinnamon or MHC should postpone or even help prevent progression of type 2 diabetes and its complications. Of course, always work with a physician who can monitor your progress and help you withdraw from any patent diabetes medication you may be taking.Since insulin and MHCP have been found to be synergistic, taking MHCP or whole cinnamon should make it possible to regulate blood sugar with less insulin. Some complications of type 1 diabetes may come from insulin use itself, so using less insulin while maintaining blood sugar control could be beneficial. Always work with a physician whenever trying to taper down insulin usage.But before you start sprinkling it on...Dr. Anderson noted in his research that all species of cinnamon and numerous bottles of commercial cinnamon were tried and that they all worked to help regulate glucose metabolism in his research teams' experiments.Coupled with the widespread availability of self-monitoring devices for blood sugar measurement, it isn't hard to tell if cinnamon or MHCP is helpful. However, keep in mind that whole cinnamon, like most plants and other living things, has both fat-soluble and water-soluble fractions. There is some evidence that high levels of the fat-soluble fractions of cinnamon could be cause for concern.Some researchers have found that substances in the fat- (and oil) soluble fractions of cinnamon may be both carcinogenic and genotoxic (damaging to genes, and leading to an increased risk of both cancer and birth defects). Fortunately, these risks are easily avoidable, and you can still get all the benefits of cinnamon just by taking a few simple steps.Dr. Anderson has observed that essentially all toxic materials in cinnamon are fat soluble. He simply recommends that, to be safe, anyone using more than 1/4 to 1 teaspoonful of whole cinnamon daily first boil it in water, then pour off the resulting watery solution for use, and discard the solid remainder, which would contain the fat- and oil-soluble fractions. Since MHCP is water soluble, it's still readily available in the watery solution poured off after boiling the cinnamon.A helpful hint for actually going about separating the oils and fats on the surface of the water: Try pouring the water through a cheesecloth (cheesecloths are available in many supermarkets and other cooking-supply stores).If you prefer not to take these steps, but still want to try this natural approach to controlling diabetes, you can avoid the potential hazard of whole cinnamon by using the cinnamon derivative, MHCP, in supplement form.